“I know he wears a lot of weird (expletive),” Bryant said. “It’s a generational thing.” — Kobe Bryant, who has never worn anything weird, not even once

When all is said and done, I’ll always remember Vinny Del Negro as the terrible-haired coach of some mediocre Chicago Bulls teams that probably should have been better than .500. But that’s because I’m a Bulls fan. For all you other peeps, it’s quite likely VDN will always be a San Antonio Spur in your mind. He spent six seasons with the Spurs as a sometimes starter, making you laugh every time you opened a pack a cards and saw...

Out of all the good stuff in Chris Ballard’s really great piece about getting to know Tim Duncan, this is BY FAR my favorite part. From Sports Illustrated:

O.K., it’s a toss-up as to how this will make you feel about Duncan: Did he once invite a bunch of teammates to a paintball course even though most had never played paintball? Perhaps. Did Duncan then stack his team with ringers and bring his own high-powered paintball gun? Maybe. Did...

I believe the children are our future, like a bunch of miniature JaVale McGees. If we teach them well, let them lead the way and show them all the beauty they possess inside — and maybe, just maybe, give them a sense of pride to make it easier — then the children’s laughter can remind us how we used to be.

But if those stupid kids tell us we had a good game when we didn’t, we have to set...

On today’s playoff edition of “The Fix,” Skeets and Tas breakdown Tuesday’s games: Pacers-Heat and Clippers-Spurs. Topics discussed include: the Heat’s final play, Wade’s comments regarding the Pacers post-game “celebration,” whether D-Wade should be suspended for tackling Collison, The Bosh Effect, the Spurs pick-and-roll D, Eric Bledsoe’s great game, “GM of the Year” R.C. Buford, and what the Clippers need to do to make this a series. All that, plus Sebastian Ellis, Jimmy Goldstein, KevCops, and more.

LINKS: TBJ Facebook...

Dwyane Wade, last night in postgame interviews:

“I heard they wanted to be like the Dallas Mavericks, in a sense,” Wade said about an apparent reference to Pacers coach Frank Vogel using last year’s Mavs team, which beat the Heat in Miami for the title, as motivation for Indiana. “I saw their little celebration at the end of (Game 2). I don’t know if they didn’t expect to win, but every night we go out on the court, we...

Ballin: Oh hi, playoffs Tim Duncan. 26 points on 12-20 shooting, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. Last time we saw that from Timmy Deucecan was January 2010, but he has a painting of himself in an attic that grotesquely ages every time he puts up huge numbers, so don’t worry about it.

Not so much: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined to score 52 points in the Miami Heat’s Game 2 loss to...

If this were football, the Pacers would get fifteen yards plus a first down, since this was certainly a catchable ball. Good hit though. Too bad Dwyane Wade got there a bit to early to separate man from ball.

Basketball-wise, however, not cool. I’m of the opinion that basketball players shouldn’t tackle other basketball players, especially from behind on a fast break. It’s a bold stance, I know.

At least Wade got the tiniest bit of karmic retribution for this,...

Remember Russell Westbrook’s “Sally Jesse Raphael meets Cabela’s” look from last night? Sure you do, it’s right there.

Now that we’re all on the same internet web page, let’s talk about that look. Or better yet, let’s let Russell Westbrook talk about that look. He’s the one who knows the most about it, since he’s the one who paid for it. Oklahoma City reporters asked him all about it today, and thankfully, Daily Thunder was on hand to capture his...

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a young team — fifth youngest in the league when age is weighted by playing time — and they’re lead by a few guys who love playing basketball more than anything else. Between Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, the Thunder have a trio of basketball-crazy youngsters who just want to get better and play as much as possible. We all know this.

But Scott Brooks really wants to make sure you know it....

There is nothing that could better encapsulate the difference between Metta World Peace and Dwyane Wade is comparing the magazines that they appear in. (People probably don’t compare these two guys very often, I admit, but let’s just go with it.) MWP ends up on the cover of Lowrider Magazine with some lady’s butt right next to his face, Dwyane Wade is in the pages of Vogue, shooting a jumper with his shirt off while some model sits on a...

The Shaquille O’Neal experiment on “Inside the NBA” has been a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, sometimes Shaq does really stupid stuff that is unintentionally funny, so that is OK and pretty nice for the internet. On the other hand, he basically just tries to take things off-topic, rarely makes actual basketball points and almost always mumbles. So maybe the bag hasn’t been that mixed. More like it is a bag of Gardetto’s that has already been...

Obviously this guy is going to get a Scottie Pippen tattoo on his left scapula to complete the look — and obviously he is a fan of 1990s sports as he is paying tribute to Darryl Talley with his spiderweb tattoo — but you should see his chest. That’s where the Bill Wennington and Luc Longley portraits are. The chest hair integrates really well with Bill’s beard.

Also, I heard he’s getting a tiny Jack Haley tattoo on his shoulder,...

Ballin: 27 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, two steals and a single, measly turnover for Russell Westbrook. He also only took 15 shots, one less than Kevin Durant, which is good from a PR standpoint. As we all know, if he’d taken more shots than KD, he’s poisonous for the Thunder, their locker room and their championship hopes.

Not so much: At no point in the second half were the Lakers closer than 17 points behind the Thunder....

All Frank wanted to do was go to the bathroom and grab some Dippin’ Dots — his granddaughter always told him that they were the ice cream of the future — but then Craig Sager had to go and throw a wrench in to things. Did he have to do this useless piece on a fan sign right here? Right now?

“That sign isn’t even that clever,” thought Frank. “I knew Roy Rogers. That sign is no Roy Rogers.”

So...

It’s not a big deal, but just so you guys know, coaches are in touch with Vinny Del Negro on the regular. Like don’t even worry about it, because they totally are texting him and stuff all the time.

From Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski:

As Del Negro shoveled some popcorn into his mouth, he unearthed his BlackBerry out of his pocket. He squinted at the screen, held it up and said, “Fifty-two [text] messages. I bet there are five...

This comes from the James Harden School for the Obvious Award-Winners (Class of 2012), but just so you guys know, Kyrie Irving is set to be named this season’s Rookie of the Year. It’s a real no-doy situation.

Irving led all rookies in scoring, was second in assists and third in minutes per game, all while playing four times as many games in the pros as he did in his one season at Duke University. He led the entire...

It’s impossible to pick a winner in this matchup — and it’s truly a shame Kevin Love wasn’t around to defend his title — so I think we can declare a draw and thank both participants for bringing their best in a deciding game. Great work all around. Hope to see some more of this stuff in the coming rounds. Highly recommended. Would watch again.

(via Russ Bengtson)

When you are both the Most Valuable Player of a major sports league and the Most Valuable Endorser of a major shoe company, you’re going to get special shoes when you take home a trophy. We’ve seen it in the pastand that’s just how it works. Strike while the iron is hot and all that. Yesterday, LeBron James and Nike struck while the iron was super duper skin-melty hot, lacing LBJ with a special edition of his LeBron 9...

On today’s playoff edition of “The Fix,” Skeets and Tas breakdown Sunday’s Clippers-Grizzlies Game 7, as well as preview and predict the two second-round Western Conference series. Topics discussed include: The Goon Squad, running back Eric Bledsoe, Memphis’ horrific three-point shooting, Blake vs. Z-Bo, Manu’s breakout potential, how the Spurs will play Chris Paul, Bynum vs. Perk, Westbrook’s jumper, how the OKC crowd will affect crazy Ron-Ron, Chris Bosh’s injured abs, and whether or not the Pacers stand a chance.

“:(” — Hamed Haddadi, eloquently summing up the Grizzlies’ feelings on their series-ending Game 7 loss

This is the most amazing thing that Dan Majerle has ever done and I want to watch this clip forever. I didn’t know you could catch a ground rule double like a boss, but I guess you can.

(via SB Nation)

Ballin: 32 points, 15 rebounds and five assists for LeBron James, which is somewhat surprisingly his first 30-15 game in the playoffs. Not that it’s easy to post a 30-15, but LeBron kind of has a knack for notching huge statistical achievements like that. Decent game.

Not so much: If the Pacers are going to have any chance in this series, their leading scorer can’t have more missed shots than points. Sorry, Danny Granger, but seven points on...